Seven Steps to Becoming a Writer
- Read everything regardless of whether it’s any good, even adverts on the tube and newspaper headlines when passing by.
- Read a whole lot more, try out all sorts; absorb everything, gradually it will become yours, your style I mean.
- Take a few great books and consider what it is that makes them so (for example, Pride and Prejudice for its humour, Evelyn Waugh’s Sword of Honour trilogy, again for the humour written into an all-encompassing, so clever story. Then there’s George Orwell, Thomas Hardy, H.E Bates, Agatha Christie, Ken Follett, whatever you fancy).
- Throw out your fear and
- Write, write and write again. Don’t be frightened of rejection and ridicule, they’re no more than staging posts along the way.
- And remember, it’s a journey without end. Sure, there’s going to be remarkable achievements but a storyteller is all ears and eyes for listening, looking and learning. And that learning is lifelong.
- Enjoy your journey.
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Good advice, Chris. The more styles and genres you read the better. What a wonderful way to train for a career.
Thanks Shelagh, best wishes
Chris